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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27529171">When The Search Ends</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliad91/pseuds/Eliad91'>Eliad91</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fate/stay night &amp; Related Fandoms, RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure &amp; Romance, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-08 06:27:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27529171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliad91/pseuds/Eliad91</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>One searched eternally and the other waited patiently eternally. Eventually though the search does end. Shirou didn't realize it but he had finally found his Saber. No longer the petite, poised, and refined king of knights but an awkward and gangly squire with a heart still wanting to do good. Shirou had changed as well but her desire to help people hadn't changed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Emiya Shirou/Artoria Pendragon | Saber, Jaune Arc/Ruby Rose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>I own neither RWBY nor FATE but I have managed to roll like three versions of Arturia and two versions of Shirou in FGO. Does that count for anything?</b>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Ever since Ruby’s aura had been unlocked there was a mental image always lurking in the back of her mind. Blonde hair and a sword. She had experienced an odd sense of deja vu much of the time. Whether it was cleaning up the house or trying a new recipe, always in the back of her mind there was blond hair and a sword. She wasn’t sure why exactly this mental image stuck with her so much but every time she closed her eyes to day dream or fell asleep it was golden hair and a simple, elegant, double edged sword. She had thought about forging it to use as her own weapon but it hadn’t felt right. There was very much a sense of it being for someone else. So she watched, and she waited, until the day she found the one that felt right.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The day before she had found it. Or at least she thought she had. Maybe he wasn’t the one she had been looking for, but undeniably Jaune had golden hair and a simple, well made, double edged sword. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Jaune or Yang! Jaune or Yang!’</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ruby thought to herself as she sprinted through the Emerald Forest. She really wasn’t looking forward to the awkwardness of trying to pair up with anyone else. At least Jaune was someone she was already friends with… didn’t seem like he was that good in a fight though. Still! It couldn’t hurt to team up with a friend! Maybe all he needed was a little practice. Yeah, that was it! A little practice and training and everything would be good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“RUBY!” Ruby skidded to a stop at the panicked shout. The voice had been Jaune’s, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jaune? Where are you?” Ruby called, her head darting different directions looking for her missing friend.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruby! Up here!” As she turned and looked up she saw Jaune Arc pinned to a tree by- OH GOODNESS WAS THAT A THREE PHASE MECHASHIFT SPEAR!? The handle looked like it could collapse down to a sword and from the parts she could see it looked like it could fold again into a lever action scout rifle. It. It was beautiful…..</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uhhh, R-Ruby do you think you could give me a hand getting down?” She heard Jaune call down nervously as he hung limply by the hood of his, well, hoodie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh. Yeah. Jaune was stuck up there as well. She should probably do something about that. “One sec Jaune! I’ll have you down in a jiffy!” Ruby didn’t like the look of trying to climb to get him loose between the lack of low hanging limbs and how high he was pinned. She could try shooting Jaune’s hoodie to tear it the rest of the way loose, but that would be awkward. Way too high a risk of hitting Jaune or that beautiful spear. There was really only one option left to her. Yes, Ruby knew what she needed to do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hold on Jaune! I’ve got you, just brace for impact!” Ruby reassured him as she took a few steps back and Focused. She wasn’t sure where it came from but she had always had a talent for using her aura with an almost abnormal efficiency. She called it Focus, all it took was a push here and a  nudge there, and she could reinforce herself with her aura beyond what it did on its own. Doing this she could push her traits that bit further beyond what aura should be capable of normally. Improved eyesight that helped make her a better sniper, slightly more strength and durability, and in this case she used Focus on her dear Crescent Rose. The edge grew sharper and harder, the steel grew stronger, and then she was ready. So with a small, confident smile and a determined nod she activated her semblance and rushed the tree. A mighty slash later while Jaune shouted… something she had missed honestly, probably something about how cool Crescent Rose was, and then the tree fell smoothly with Jaune Arc and the spear neatly perched on top of it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ughhh… th-thanks Ruby,” Jaune groaned from the spot where he was still stuck to the tree, weird how he hadn’t freed himself yet. “Just... a little more warning next time please.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Heh, oops. Sorry Jaune,” Ruby giggled nervously as she pulled back into her cloak. She’d done something to mess up again didn’t she? He was gonna get mad just like that crabby girl from the day before and she really didn’t need to make another enemy when she didn’t have another new friend to help balance it out and she wouldn’t get to play with- she meant “assist” with “upgrading” that very nice sword and shield.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re good Ruby, ow, just-just gonna need a second to catch my breath.” Jaune reassured her as winced and stayed very still.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Oh thank Color,’</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ruby thought as she breathed a sigh of relief. At least he didn’t hate her now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks again for helping me down.” She heard Jaune say weakly. Ruby couldn’t help blushing and winced as she heard him groan again from his perch. Had she done that? His aura should’ve helped with that though, either by healing the damage or stopping him from taking it in the first place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jaune why aren’t you using your aura to heal faster?” Ruby asked her friend curiously as she stepped forward to check on him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My what?” Oh that wasn’t a good sign. “Jaune your aura! The thingy that keeps us from getting hurt and makes us stronger? It’s like a soul force field!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pffftt, yeah I totally have one of those! I just… forgot? Oh wow that is in there” Jaune sputtered as she watched him ineffectually try to remove the spear still holding him to the tree.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jaune you don’t have your aura unlocked do you?” Ruby deadpanned as she leaned on Crescent Rose while watching him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No Ruby, no I do not.” Jaune sighed as he gave up on freeing himself and let his arms fall back down to his sides hanging off either side of the trunk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby patted him on the shoulder reassuringly as she reached up and pulled the spear free, setting it gently on the ground while Jaune rolled off the fallen trunk before standing up and stretching out. His hands and face were covered in nicks and scratches and honestly it was a miracle he had made it out as relatively untouched as he had, even with his armor. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Come here Jaune,” Ruby beckoned, “I can unlock your aura for you. You’ll need it going forward.” Ruby reached up and placed a hand on his chest and a hand on his… oh he was annoyingly tall wasn’t he. “Jaune can you kneel down for me real quick? It’s part of the ritual to unlock your aura.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Please don’t catch the fib, please don’t catch the fib.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah sure, no problem Ruby. Thank you!” Ha! Worked like a charm. Jaune quickly knelt down as Ruby reached out and placed a hand over both his heart and forehead. Slowly Ruby reached out with her soul to rouse his before saying the words.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“For it is through our heroism that we achieve immortality. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Through this we become a bulwark against the darkness protecting all. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Searching endlessly and uncaring of death. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I release your soul and by my hand guide thee”.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the words were spoken Ruby felt the telltale drain on her reserves as she poured her own aura into Jaune to awaken his own. A void grew to a flickering flame before blooming to a raging fire. His aura was massive! It was ridiculous, and patently unfair. Hmmph, so what if he had a lot of aura. Everyone knew it was how efficient you were with it that was more important.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the ritual finished Ruby felt something odd happen. It was like Jaune’s aura and her’s were on an identical wavelength for just a second. There was a resonance and an overwhelming sense of familiarity rushed over her. This scene. Something like it had happened a long time ago didn’t it? Or maybe it was a dream. The roles were reversed in the memory.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A tall redheaded teen looked up at a petite blonde swordswoman regal in nature. She looked down upon him moonlight streaming in behind her through the window of a worn shed. “I ask of you, are you my master?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The petite blonde’s face overlapped Jaune’s for just a moment and suddenly in a fitting bit of symmetry the roles were reversed. Now the blonde swordsman was kneeling on the ground looking up at the petite redheaded huntress. The moment between the two stretched on. It could have been milliseconds and it could have been centuries. Ruby honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference, nothing really existed beyond this one moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The loud snapping of a branch ended it and the two split in embarrassment at their compromising position before their visitor joined them in the clearing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello again!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>-When the Search Ends-</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune would be focused on how oddly good he felt if he wasn’t currently running for his life. Things had honestly been going pretty well. Ruby had found him in the forest so they were partners now and that was awesome. Then the cereal girl had found them in the forest and apparently she had been the one who had thrown the spear that saved him AND the snow angel that had called him cute the day before had found them and now she was partnered with the cereal girl. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To be fair though Pyrhha, the cereal girl, had seemed kinda bummed out about when she found out that he and Ruby had been partnered up. Hmmm… maybe she and Ruby were friends or something? He’d check later and see if there was anything that could be done at least. The snow angel had seemed really excited about pairing with Pyrrha though. They’d probably get along great if they had some time to get to know each other. After all it was just like Mom said, strangers were just friends that you hadn’t met yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The problem right now is he had in a brilliant stroke of genius luck stumbled across a solid lead for the location of the relic they were hunting. The only problem is the cave in question ended up being a devious trap holding a massive scorpion Grimm inside of it. Now they were all running like crazy through a forest full of other murder monsters while trying to escape an even bigger murder monster.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Does. Anyone. Have. Any. Ideas?” Jaune panted as he maintained speed. He should’ve collapsed minutes ago if he was honest with himself. Whatever this aura thing was it was REALLY nice. He was running faster and longer than he ever had before and every lingering bump, knick, and scratch he had accumulated in the past week was completely gone. There was something else too, an odd sense of deja vu like he should be able to do something more with this energy but he wasn’t sure how. For now though it was time to run for his life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think I might!” Shouted the snow angel whom he had been informed was Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. “I’ll need a moment to do it and for someone to hold the deathstalker still though!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright then,” Jaune acknowledged, some plan was better than no plan after all. “Pyrrha! Shield out and get ready to face it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Got it!” The red headed spartan shouted back. Out of the corner of his eye Jaune caught a glimpse of something odd. It looked like her weapons flew into her hands rather than her making any concentrated effort to grab them. Jaune waved the observation away with a quick shake of his head though. There were more important things to be doing at the moment than satisfying vague curiosity.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune reached down and ripped his Crocea Mors from its spot at his hip and expanded it. Not even bothering to draw his sword, he gripped Crocea Mors in two hands while turning to face the creature. It hit him like a freight train. A claw swung out and knocked Pyrrha away sending the amazonian huntress flying and in this moment something within Jaune crystallized. A flash of memory from something he had never done and shouldn’t know. In a moment of pure thoughtless, senseless panic he gathered up his aura before releasing it explosively through his limbs, empowering his body.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The deathstalker was stopped cold for that brief moment as it hit Jaune’s shield. He held his stance even as he dug a furrow into the ground with his heels as he was pushed back and the scorpion’s back half lifted up and off the ground from sheer momentum before gravity took hold slamming the beast back down. Weiss took advantage of the beast’s stunned state, using glyphs and dust to create great bonds of ice and stone holding the monster in place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruby!” Jaune called desperately to his partner, as he pointed at the deathstalker’s most dangerous natural weapon. “Take out the tail while it’s restrained!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He never heard a yes or any other sound of acknowledgement from his partner but Jaune caught a glimpse of rose petals, blinked his eyes, and then the red reaper was standing on the other side of the beast and the beast’s stinger fell, lodging itself in the thick carapace of the deathstalker’s head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taking the moment, hands on his knees, to catch his breath Jaune looked to the rest of his party as he tried to figure out what to do next. “Well it’s stuck for now, what should we do? Run? Kill it?” Jaune asked as he gestured to the Grimm struggling ineffectually against its bonds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Better to kill it now,” Weiss asserted. “We don’t know how long the bindings will hold and we have it at our mercy right now anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“True but how would we even go about killing it?” Pyrrha offered as a counterpoint. “None of our weapons have been able to pierce its shell. It might be better to get away now and complete the mission. If we’re lucky maybe it will still be here when initiation finishes and we can send a professor to finish it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I sincerely doubt it will stay trapped that long,” Weiss argued with her partner. “Even if we do manage to escape there’s a good chance that </span>
  <em>
    <span>when</span>
  </em>
  <span> it gets loose, not if, it will hunt down and kill someone else who isn’t expecting it or ready.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well how do you expect us to actually kill it then?” Pyrrha responded, frustration leaking into her voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure but I know we can think of SOMETHING!” Weiss bit back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune watched the play-by-play between the two awkwardly as he stood unsure of what to say to defuse the situation and lacking any ideas of his own to contribute. Luckily he was saved by his pint sized partner, “I have a plan you guys. Jaune we’ll need you to do that thing you did with your shield again, the super strength.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I honestly have no idea how I did that,” Jaune confessed as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. He heard a crack from behind, they didn’t have much longer until the monster got free.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jaune,” he straightened at the sound of Ruby saying his name. “I know it’s a stretch but do you think you could do it again if you have to?” Jaune was about to say he couldn’t, but there was something about the way she looked at him. Jaune stared into bright silver eyes not simply grey but possessing a genuine metallic sheen like a polished blade, both wide and innocent and simultaneously hard and resolute. This amazing girl who really shouldn’t be bothering with him believed in him one hundred percent. There was only one way he could respond to that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah... yeah Ruby, I think I can if I really need to.” Jaune nodded as a wave of calm washed over him. He could do this, whether or not he had the ability was pointless. After all he had already done it once and they needed him to do it, so he would.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby nodded back with a smile on her face as she took Jaune’s hand. “Weiss, can other people stand on your glyphs?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes if they need to, I can propel them forward as well.” Weiss nodded, leaving behind any issues she had with the awkward duo and her partner by the wayside until the danger had passed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good, I need one directly above the nail by about twenty feet and one to give me a boost towards the overhead one. Pyrrha, I’m gonna need you to keep this thing busy and try and hold it still as much as you can while we do this. Can you two do that for me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>YES.”</b>
  <span> Both girls spoke in unison as Pyrrha readied her shield again and took Jaune’s former position at the beast’s front, taking potshots at its eyes while Weiss readied her glyphs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In that moment Jaune went from torn between embarrassment at a cute girl holding his hand and fear at being potentially eaten to wonder as his entire world shifted to fluttering shades of crimson and whitish gold. Ruby had used her semblance and taken him along for the ride. It was an amazing almost indescribable sensation as their very beings scattered into hundreds of rose petals before Jaune felt himself get dragged along like the ball in a demented pinball machine. Ruby rushed the first glyph slamming against it before the recoil rocketed them upwards to the second, in a rebound that he could feel in his nonexistent bones. They hit the second glyph at speed and as they began to rocket down towards the deathstalker Ruby ended her semblance, spinning Jaune and throwing him down as hard as she could.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune gripped his shield tight with both hands once again as he reached for that familiar feeling in his soul and gathered up as much of his aura as he could and sent it outwards explosively through his body. Jaune glowed a brilliant white-gold and slammed the edge of his shield down on the stinger as he made contact with the beast that had managed to free three of its limbs. There was flash, a sickening crunch, and the deathstalker slowly began to dissipate, its stinger coming out of its bottom jaw. Jaune hit the ground, his body locked up and still holding his shield in a death grip as he processed the fact that yes indeed, he was still alive. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure who started first, it might have been one of the girls and it might have been him, but someone let loose a giggle. After a snort of incredulity from Weiss another was released, and then another, and another, another until the whole team was rolling on the floor in hysteric laughter as they came down from the adrenaline high of the fight and realized that not only had they all survived and were out of mortal danger but had even defeated a giant deathstalker.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Holy crap that was amazing!” Jaune cheered as he turned to his team. “Those glyphs and that stuff you can do with dust are so cool, and you Ruby! Does it always feel like that when you go fast? That was the most intense experience of my life!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course it was impressive,” Weiss said with more than a glimmer of pride. “The Schnee family semblance is not only passed down through all blood related family members but is both powerful and incredibly versatile.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Heh, I don’t think what I did was all that special.” Jaune heard Ruby mumble as she pulled her hood up and hid back inside her hood shyly. Well that just wouldn’t do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruby, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that was the coolest thing I have ever experienced and I just hit a deathstalker at three hundred miles an hour.” Jaune encouraged his silver eyed partner. “Weiss, Pyrrha you both think her semblance was cool too right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I suppose in this particular instance the dolt has proven herself to be both capable in combat and in possession of a potent semblance.” Weiss hedged as she begrudgingly complemented the reaper.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well I think she performed splendidly,” Pyrrha asserted as she smiled at the two. “Ruby’s semblance is both impressive and versatile as is your own Jaune. The both of you also showed solid minds for battlefield tactics, you should both be proud.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune blushed a red to match his partner’s cloak at the unexpected praise before his mind locked on something the amazon had said. “Wait my semblance?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, is that not the ability you used to fight the deathstalker?” Pyrrha responded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I… maybe? I’m not sure. It might be but… that doesn’t really feel right.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe it’s because your semblance can do more than just that Jaune.” Ruby piped up from Jaune’s right. “We can try working on it later?” Ruby asked as she patted him on the back with a small smile on her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you two dunces are done flirting we still have to finish initiation,” Weiss groused from off to the side as she began walking again. Ruby and Jaune looked at each other before each of them turned the other way blushing, Ruby once again retreating into her hood as Jaune scratched his cheek.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not like that!” Ruby whined at Weiss’ retreating form before chasing after her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune was about to follow after the others when he felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder before he turned to face the other redhead in their group. “You did perform well Jaune, I told you you had the makings of a leader.” Pyrrha smiled before the two of them went to chase down their respective partners.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>-When the Search Ends-</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, and Pyrrha Nikos. You will be team RASN (Raisin).”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby couldn’t believe it, she had been made team lead! They had just finished with the time assignment ceremonies. Her sister had made her way onto a team with Blake and two other people Ruby hadn’t met yet. They seemed nice though! Apparently the boy with the black hair was Yang’s partner and Blake had partnered with the hyperactive ginger.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still though it had been a long day, unpacking and showers could wait for the morning all she wanted was to hit the hay.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That night Ruby dreamed a different dream. She was tall, far taller than she was now and her hands were empty. When she went into combat she summoned to her hands a bow or two swords, beautiful and simplistic in design, one as dark as onyx and the other a bright ivory, yet still her hands felt empty. She walked and searched, and searched, and searched but still these hands would not hold anything. Even then with hands achingly empty and a hungry heart she searched on and on forever until the time she would find what she was looking for. His dear king, _rtu_i_</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That night Jaune began his own dream. One of a girl who had pulled a sword from a stone. One who fought and fought and fought, giving up all that which made her human to be the perfect ruler. One who was deposed and then saved by another. One who waited, and waited, and waited, and still she would never be held. But that was ok. She could wait for the one who was everything to her. She would hold on for eternity and a day because one day her hands would hold him. The one named S__r_o  _m_y_.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Author’s Notes</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>So any of my active readers will notice that this is not another Lazy Days snippet like I said and I am a damn dirty liar lol. In all honesty this is a project I’ve been excited about for a little while now and have  been storyboarding for a few weeks. Unlike My Own Worst Enemy which is a crack oneshot and Lazy Days which is a snippet collection I fill in when I feel like this actually is a planned story. It’ll probably be about five or six chapters total, and will alternate with Huntsman of the Digital Hazard.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Alrighty, that should be about it. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of When the Search Ends. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about this one since I’m typically not big on the fated or star-crossed lovers tropes. I hope you all have a wonderful day and don’t forget to love each other.</b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>These hands own nothing, especially not RWBY or Fate/Stay Night</b>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>A snarling face that mirrored her own. A crackling sound and the smell of ozone as red lightning filled her vision. A sharp pain in her stomach and a deeper one in her heart as she saw that face go slack. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Arturia was supposed to unite and lead Briton into a new golden age with Camelot at the forefront. Instead she lay dying, Excalibur heavy as its weight strained against her weak grip. Where was he? He should be here soon, she needed to return it to the Lake. Nimue had been a staunch ally, and Arturia was not one to offend the fae, even on her deathbed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A shock of grey hair filled her vision, ah yes, there he was. “Come Bedivere, I need you to throw my sword in the lake.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes my Jaune.” Bedivere bowed as he gently took the sword in his hands.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait. Bedivere?” Arturia called out confused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes my JAUNE?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why do you keep calling me that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Calling you what my- </span>
  <b>JAUNE</b>
  <span>!!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune jolted awake at the shout, shooting up and painfully slamming his head into the bed above his own.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bleary eyed, Jaune rubbed at the painful bump on his forehead as he stared at his teammate. “What- *</span>
  <em>
    <span>yaaaaawn</span>
  </em>
  <span>* what’s up Weiss?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weiss Schnee was tapping her foot impatiently as he looked at her, a barely restrained snarl held on her lips as she face palmed. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Why</span>
  </em>
  <span> are you asleep? The dance is in an hour!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“*</span>
  <em>
    <span>Yaaaaaaawn</span>
  </em>
  <span>* Because I was sleepy, I doubled down on my training this morning to make sure I got it all in since you won’t let me skip the dance.” Jaune explained as he continued to rub the sleep from his eyes and stretched. “Don’t you know tiredness is the enemy Weiss?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weiss groaned in exasperation, “I thought hunger was the enemy?” She asked with as much patience as she could muster and plastered a facsimile of a smile on her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Truly, we are beset on all sides,” Jaune snarked at his teammate before getting up and moving to the bathroom as the smile cracked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“JAUNE DYLAN ARC I WILL-” Weiss started before Jaune cut her off, darting into the bathroom for his shower.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry Weiss! Need to grab a shower. Don’t wanna be late for the party right?” Jaune grinned as he pulled the door shut behind him and stepped into the warm shower. Honestly he was of two minds in regards to the dance. On the one hand a night to relax sounded nice, in between the training, classes, training, weapon maintenance, and training. On the other he still needed the extra training and a dance where he awkwardly tried to make small talk as he sat by the punch bowl and avoided people, did not sound like a great night. He’d skip it if he could but Weiss and Ruby’s sister Yang had made it clear that wouldn’t be an option.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course he could just skip anyway… but that would be unbecoming of a knight… which he wasn’t. Really needed to get that under control. Jaune sighed as he turned off the shower and began drying himself. He’d at least show up for a while and then maybe see if he could beg off. As he pulled on his clothes Jaune still couldn’t really see the point of the dance, it wasn’t like he had a date or anything and going stag was just sad. Weiss was going with Neptune, Pyrrha hadn’t mentioned her date but it was obvious that somebody had asked her, she was Pyrrha </span>
  <em>
    <span>freaking</span>
  </em>
  <span> Nikos. Still though he’d just suck it up, head out there, and be suppor- ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>whoa’</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Jaune opened the door he saw short red hair so dark it may as well be black, framing a pale face and metallic silver eyes. Ruby was wearing a short red dress and her signature stockings, for once leaving her cloak and hood behind. It wasn’t that different from her regular clothing but somehow it hit differently. Ok, Jaune should probably stop staring now, he could do this. Just be cool, be smooth, just like Dad had taught him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“H-hey Ruby! You look pretty girl- PRETTY GOOD! I mean pretty good. Niiiiice dress?” ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sorry for dishonoring your lessons father.’</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Heh, thanks Jaune!” Ruby giggled. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Laughter yes!’</span>
  </em>
  <span> “Can’t stand trying to walk around in these stupid lady stilts though, I already rolled my ankle twice just here in the room.” Ruby sighed in frustration as she looked down at the heels as if they had personally offended her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why not wear your sneakers?” Jaune asked as he moved to go pull on his own shoes and suit jacket.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is that an option!?” Ruby half shouted across the room as she stumbled over to her closet and started looking for said shoes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune was torn. He wanted to skip the dance but he wanted to spend time with Ruby but he kept sticking his foot in his mouth but she smiled and started giggling and that was good….. Right? ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Aww screw it, a knight is bold and so is Jaune Arc!’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey Ruby?” Jaune tentatively called out to his teammate as she continued to dig through her closet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah Jaune?” She called not looking back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you even really want to go to the dance?” Jaune asked and if anyone pointed at the nervous tremor in his voice he’d call them a damned liar.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ehhh not really,” Ruby admitted, still not facing him. “I’m not much of a dancer so I’ll probably just end up hanging out by the punchbowl all night. Don’t really have anything better to do though and Yang and Weiss worked hard on it though soooo…. Success!”  Ruby cheered at the end as she lifted a pair of beat up sneakers triumphantly over her head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A knight is bold. “Do you want to skip the dance then? W-with me? We could go out to Vale and do something.” Jaune managed to choke out the statement as he held his hands at his sides and very pointedly did not cross them in front of him or start rubbing the back of his head from nerves.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby stilled as she turned to look at him and nervously began to fidget with her hands after reaching for a hood that wasn’t there. “Jaune?” She asked quietly as she fiddled with the edge of her dress. “Are you asking me on a date?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think so,no, yeah. Yes I am Ruby,” Jaune responded with a small smile, oddly calm now. He had done his part of this and the ball wasn’t in his court anymore. In a way it helped to see Ruby was as nervous as he was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then…,” Ruby responded slowly. “I think I would say yes. Where do you wanna go?” Ruby finished with a bright, nervous smile on her face as she met his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Eh, we’ll figure it out.” Jaune grinned. “I’m cool with whatever as long as I’m hanging out with you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dork,” Ruby grinned bashfully as red blossomed across her cheeks. “Come on, let’s get to the bullhead docks handsome. You clean up nice too by the way.” And with that they were off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-When The Search Ends-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby couldn’t believe it. She was actually on a date! With Jaune!! Oh Yang and Weiss were gonna be pissed later both for the date and skipping the dance but that was a problem for later. For now Ruby was having the time of her life!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dinner at that new Mistrali place she had been eyeing, wandering the shops together and he had even gotten her not just the new weapon catalog she had been interested in but that new knife and frying pan she had been wanting as well! Now they were at the arcade and Jaune was being a perfect gentleman. More importantly Ruby had never seen Arturia smile this much before. N-No, that wasn’t right. This wasn’t Arturia. This was Jaune Arc, her partner, teammate, best friend, and possibly boyfriend. He was dorky, kind, a bit of a goofball, respectful, had a noble demeanor, the tendencies of a natural leader even if she was in charge, blonde hair, and a simple, beautiful, double-edged sword.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby sighed internally, as she felt her mood drop even as she maintained the smile on her face. The dreams were nice but they were just dreams, Jaune wasn’t Arturia and she wasn’t Shirou. The urge to search had fallen to the wayside after that moment in the Emerald Forest, but there was still a sense of something missing. It didn’t help that every so often there was an unmistakable sense of something being missing and flashes of deja vu like she had lived these moments before…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No! None of that! She was out here with Jaune and she was gonna have a wonderful time! Ruby scolded herself as she reached up to wrap her  arm around Jaune’s and promptly felt her face burn as a blush spread across it. Those uh, those training sessions with Pyrrha were certainly helping weren’t they?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune looked down at the unexpected contact and </span>
  <em>
    <span>she could still feel her face burning up from the blush. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Why hadn’t she let go of his arm yet? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You okay Rubes?” Jaune questioned as he looked down at her with his stupid nice smile, and stupid messy hair, and stupid stupid kind eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine,” Ruby assured him as she quickly let go of his arm and pulled her hands behind her back. “Just having a really good time.” She smiled back up at him. Ruby felt her grin widen as it was Jaune’s turn to blush before he looked away for just a moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m glad,” he stammered as he went back to trying to win tickets on the skeeball machine with mixed success. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Smirking at her perceived victory, Ruby took her spot next to Jaune and began playing as well. With a keen eye, proper muscle control, spacial awareness, deft hands, and the power of  a dork that loved playing skeeball just a bit too much, Ruby soon found herself with a pile of tickets roughly the same size and weight as Zwei. Two shooting games and one matching game later and Ruby’s pile of tickets was roughly the size of her entire upper body, she couldn’t see over it, and much of it was dragging on the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ha! I am the queen of the arcade!” Ruby crowed to Jaune, blindly stumbling her way towards the ticket booth as Jaune guided her. His own hands holding his own comparatively humble supply of tickets and Ruby’s bags from the kitchenware store.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” She heard Jaune question as she felt him gently pull her to the side to avoid some obstacle or other. “Well what will the queen be buying with her spoils of war?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not sure yet,” Ruby responded as she dropped her tickets on the counter before turning to Jaune and did her best to hide her small twitch of guilt at the gobsmacked look on one ticket counter’s face as the other one began counting and… were those tears? It hadn’t been that many tickets had it? Ok maybe using Focus to reinforce her senses and nerves hadn’t been the best thing but it wasn’t like she had actually cheated was it? “What are you thinking about getting Jaune?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not sure,” Jaune said as he looked at the wall of prizes across from him as the clerk gratefully counted his much more reasonable pile of tickets while, oh huh, when did the other two employees join the first one in counting Ruby’s tickets? Eh, probably wasn’t important. “I think I’ll haaaaave that!” Jaune pointed at something across the way that Ruby couldn’t quite make out. The clerk quickly nodded and grabbed it for Jaune before sighing and joining the other three as they worked at a fever pitch to count her tickets, they seemed to be about a quarter of the way through.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here you go Ruby.” What was that? Ruby turned from the sad spectacle of watching four teenagers trying to count her tickets, it was like watching a trainwreck, and looked to see what Jaune was holding out to her. A ring. Not anything big or grandiose of course, it came from an arcade after all, but a small plastic ring all one piece and shaped to look as if the entire thing was a cut gemstone. The gesture enough would’ve been enough to make Ruby smile if it wasn’t for the fact that Jaune had made sure to pick one in her colors. Marbled, opaque black and translucent red all the way through the toy piece of jewelry, that actually made her heart flutter a bit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cheeks once again burning red, Ruby accepted the token with an embarrassed smile corresponding to Jaune’s wide grin. “Th-thank you Jaune.” What was that? She was turning into a stuttering mess for a cheap plastic ring. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘A cheap plastic ring from Jaune,’</span>
  </em>
  <span> a traitorous part of her mind whispered. None of that! She was a strong independent huntress and a warrior and he was smiling at her again. You know what? She was ok with this. Relenting Ruby slipped the plastic ring on her finger before holding it up and showing it off to Jaune as a brilliant smile lit up her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune blushed and widened his smile in turn and the moment between the two stretched on for what felt like forever, until Ruby heard a quiet cough coming from next to her. Ruby turned to see the desk clerk looking at her expectantly as the other three counters sat exhausted on the ground. “Thanks to your ticket volume ma'am we will not be able to count them in an expedient manner and we are prepared to offer you any one of our top shelf items of your choice.” The clerk explained with dead eyes and a polite tone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Heh-heh, thanks, sorry.” Ruby mumbled as she looked up to take in her choices. What to pick? What to pick? Then Ruby saw it and the decision was practically made for her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two left the arcade soon after to go find dessert. Ruby proudly sporting her toy ring as Jaune carried a large stuffed lion. It had been a wonderful evening, maybe a bit expensive even with them splitting the bill, but wonderful nonetheless. No need for stupid lady stilts as she walked around town with her man, enjoyed herself, and best of all no memories getting in the way from- “Shirou.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby heard an actual record scratch in her mind as she came to a sudden stop. “What did you say Jaune?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune turned to her an embarrassed grimace on his face as he responded. “Sorry about that Rubes. The lion just reminded me of a dream I had a couple of nights ago. They always show two people. Shirou and Arturia, or Saber is the name she uses part of the time actually. Anyway sometimes they fight and Arturia like, time travels but there was a time they went on a date and he bought her a stuffed lion just like this.” Jaune explained as he jostled the items in his arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anyway it’s just some silly dreams. I’m sorry for interrupting our da-,” Jaune was cut off though as Ruby jumped into the conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They were in Fuyuki City right? Shirou was a magus and the master of Saber. Saber was Arturia the King of Knights. They had a friend named Rin right!?” Ruby plowed through the conversation desperation leaking into her voice as emotions not entirely her own filled her. The sense of longing and need to search overwhelmed her to the point that there was nothing else. Green eyes overlaid blue in her vision as Jaune’s messy hair was replaced by a tight and elegant bun suddenly she was taller and looking down at her but Jaune was taller and should be looking down at him and why weren’t Ruby’s arms tanned and strong and built and why even with the one she had searched for right in front of her why did his hands still hold </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune/Arturia/</span>
  <em>
    <span>Saber</span>
  </em>
  <span> looked down at Ruby/Shirou in confusion before wincing as he grabbed his head dropping their spoils of the evening and Shirou/Ruby watched as a myriad of emotions washed over his/her/the king’s face: realization, fear, longing, hope, desperation, confusion, </span>
  <em>
    <span>JOY.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Eventually she/he looked down at Ruby/Shirou with eyes full of wonder, “Shirou? No, Ruby? No… my Cook? Is that you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It is Saber,” Ruby whispered with tears in her eyes as she leapt forward with a bone crushing hug as she held as tightly as she could for as long as she could for fear that her king would be taken from her again. She sank to her knees as she held on tight and Jaune followed her. She felt herself wrapped in warmth as long, strong arms embraced her and held her. In that moment something missing in Ruby filled in, a bone deep sense of longing, of something missing, was filled and something in her snapped as she wept. Tears of sorrow and tiredness, tears of relief, and most of all tears of sheer unrelenting joy as she understood that now for the first time in billions of years her empty heart and hands were full, because now she held her world.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby wasn’t sure when she came back to herself. Jaune’s shirt and suit jacket were soaked across the front and the dampness in her hair told her he had cried too. It had to have been some time but she didn’t care. All she knew was that she had finally found her… him… this was complicated but it didn’t matter! Jaune really was the one! Blonde hair and a sword. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruby?” Jaune tentatively asked from his position curled over and around her still wrapping her in the hug.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah Jaune?” Ruby asked tired yet happy, with a smile that could light a thousand suns.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think we have a lot to talk about.” Jaune asserted as he started laughing to himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I think so too,” Ruby giggled in response, pulling herself deeper into the hug before letting go. “For now though Jaune, I think it’s time for us to head home.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nodding Jaune stood before reaching a hand out to help her up. Jaune gathered the items he bought Ruby in his right hand. Ruby held the lion she had won for Jaune in her left arm. They held hands the entire way home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Soon enough they were outside the door of their dorm and it seemed like the dance was winding down too from the sound of it and Ruby was as happy as she had ever been. Things were confusing and she had a hard time telling where she stopped and Shirou began but she would figure it out. For now she would just be happy. She had finally found the one she was waiting for and it was her best friend! What more could she ask for? Well… there was one more thing. “Jaune?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah Ruby?” Jaune asked, his face still covered by that same goofy smile he had held the entire way home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I had a really good time tonight.” Ruby smiled back up at him bashfully as she batted her eyelashes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So did I, my very dear cook.” Jaune smiled teasingly at her as he gripped her hand tighter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know what would make it even better?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” Jaune questioned playfully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A kiss goodnight.” Ruby answered honestly as she stared up at him into eyes so blue the sky seemed fake in comparison. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a gulp and a look of trepidation Jaune leaned down and captured Ruby’s lips with his own. Soon after they both sank into the feeling leaning into each other. It wasn’t hot and heavy or a sloppy make out session it was a sincere, loving kiss that neither wanted to end.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘heh,’</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ruby thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘at least this time there’s no blonde asshole with red eyes to ruin the end of the date.’</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?” Ruby and Jaune both broke off the kiss as they turned to see the crimson eyed figure of Yang Xiao Long stalking towards them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh Root dammit.’ </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <b>AUTHOR’S NOTES:</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Hey everybody hope you enjoyed the new chapter! The two have finally realized both who they are and who the other is and I couldn’t be happier about it lol. </b>
  <b></b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Alright that’s about it. I hope you all have a wonderful day, don’t forget to love each other, and if you have someone in your life you can’t do without go out, give them a hug or kiss, and let them know. Take care guys and gals!</b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>I OWN NOTHING</b>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Ruby walked through a city that burned. The plants burned. The animals burned. The buildings burned. The streets burned. The people burned. Ruby burned. Everything was pain and orange flame and hate and rage and sorrow and one thousand despicable curses and Shirou burned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But still she walked forward. Even as he burned she walked forward. He saw the broken and cooked remains of her family and so she left that part of herself behind to burn as he continued to walk forward. She continued to walk forward and came across another survivor pinned under rubble, but there was nothing Shirou could do for them. So she continued moving forward as he let her empathy burn. He moved forward and burned and realized that there was no hope in this place that might as well be hell, so she let hope fall to burn as well as he continued moving forward.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everything was given to the fire. Everything of him/her. Everything that made Shirou/Ruby who she/he was, was sacrificed to the fire that was fueled by one thousand curses. Then the nature of the fire changed but it was still hell and hate and pain as her second home burned. Beacon was on fire and creatures made of that hate and rage and one thousand curses against creation rampaged through it. She fought to save an enemy and he was consumed. She fought to warn a friend and she was torn asunder by her own weapons. He fought to save a teammate, a sister in all but blood and she was turned to ash in front of her eyes. Then hate and rage and pain were wiped away by a new sensation. It was like a fire so hot it froze her or an ice so cold it burned him. Blinding light became everything, and then everything was the darkness behind Ruby Rose’s eyelids.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yes, she was Ruby Rose. Her mother was Summer Rose. Her father was Tai Yang Xiao Long. Her sister was Yang Xiao Long. Her uncle was Qrow Branwen. Her best friend was Weiss Schnee. Her hometown was Fuyuki- no, Patch. The one she loved was Jaune Arc. The one she grieved was Pyrrha Nikos.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could feel tears prick her vision at the memory and the recurring nightmare and she stubbornly fought them back. That would do no good and help no one. Still, it had been a rough few months since the Fall of Beacon and things had been slow to improve. Yang had left for Menagerie as soon as the gash in her side had mended with the intent of finding her girlfriend Blake, the leader of team BRNX. Weiss had managed to survive the burns from the wreckage crashing into her but hadn’t been the same since her partner’s death. Pyrrha’s death had been rough for everyone on team RASN and none of them had really recovered from it yet. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune had come back quiet and sullen by the time they found him. He wouldn’t tell them what she had said in the end but the picture he had painted of the vault below Beacon with the scarred woman and whatever the headmaster had tried to force Pyrrha to do painted a worrying picture. With her family’s blessing each of them now wore something of Pyrrha’s to remember. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The remains of her weapon had been melted down and incorporated into a new dust mechanism for crocea mors. Weiss had replaced her previous ever present tiara with Pyrrha’s and now held a modified version of Akouo in her right hand as a buckler in Mistrali bronze with the Schnee snowflake with a spear run through it emblazoned across the front. Ruby herself wore a modified version of their friend’s bracers and leg armor. Each now had a bolt of red fabric tied somewhere as well to remember. Whether it be Weiss’ scarf, Jaune’s sash, or the red wrappings Ruby now wore on her hands and forearms beneath the bracers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even now Ruby felt as if she would go to sleep one night and wake up and the last terrible six months would have never happened. They would be late for class, Jaune would be fitting in either training or food, Weiss would be nagging them over something, and Pyrrha would be calling for- “Jaune.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby’s eyes snapped open. What was that? That couldn’t be real, it had sounded like… “Jaune.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There it was again. Pyrrha’s voice calling out. Ruby’s eyes snapped open and she scanned the clearing they were camped in. Weiss was still asleep and in her bedroll and so were Ren and Nora, blessing that they were on this trip to Haven for answers. No, the problem is that the bedroll right next to hers was empty when it really shouldn’t have been. Jaune Arc wasn’t next to her or in the clearing. A quick bit of reinforcement, what she had previously called focus, to her ears and she could make out the sounds more clearly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A gentle voice and the tell tale grunts of exertion that indicated someone was training greeted her. Quietly Ruby got up and moved away from the camp, a short stroll through the forest as she followed the sounds and she found the current source of her worry. Jaune was training again, Crocea Mors held out in front of him and pointed away at an angle towards an invisible foe and Ruby took in the new shape of the sword. Crocea Mors had been modified with the remains of Milo Jaune had received as well, the blade was wider and heavier, the grip extended to a hand and a half, the cross guard was much wider with a blocky curve and colored in mistrali bronze the stretch halfway up the blade’s fuller, and most telling were the new wind dust crystals in the sword. Ruby no longer had access to Unlimited Bladeworks or Structural Grasping but even then she could never forget the sword she saw before her now. It was no noble phantasm, and obviously made by human hands but it was clearly Excalibur.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a moment they weren’t in a starlit clearing anymore but a warm, well lit dojo and rather than a tall knight, she was staring at a beautiful, petite woman with blonde hair and piercing eyes. The vision of the memory filled Ruby and then flowed past. It had become more common since their awakening the night of the dance and Ruby had grown used to the odd moments of deja vu as time passed. Each memory was a treasure to relish and be stored away gently but not to lose herself in, she was Ruby Rose, daughter of Summer Rose and Tai-Yang Xiao Long and little sister of Yang Xiao Long and she refused to throw anything of herself in the fire when she could pull people from it instead. The train of thought was broken though when that same familiar voice cut through again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Arms up Jaune,” Pyrrha’s voice gently commanded. “Feet shoulder width apart. Now let’s begin the set.” Ruby watched as Jaune moved but he didn’t follow the instructions on the scroll. Intricate slashes flowed as she watched Jaune practice movements that she knew came from Arturia. Soon the small clearing was a miniature tornado as Jaune slashed and great gusts of wind flowed out from where it coiled around his blade building into a storm as he used aura burst to become a whirling dervish of steel, his shield forgotten at his hip. And then, as suddenly as he began, he stopped. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s good Jaune,” cut in the gentle voice of Pyrrha once again. “Now, provided you haven’t been cheating, you can go ahead and take a break. Jaune I just want to say how proud I am of you. I’ve never met anyone so driven to succeed before or to improve at the rate that you have. Jaune…. I… I…” Pyrrha trailed off and her voice cut out to the sound of the recording rewinding. “Arms up Jaune.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So this is where you were,” Ruby cut in as she made her presence known.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“H-hey,” Jaune stuttered, clearly surprised, as he turned to face her. “What are you doing up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just a bad dream,” Ruby brushed him off, her problems weren’t the point right now. “I had </span>
  <em>
    <span>intended</span>
  </em>
  <span> to go back to sleep but then I opened my eyes to see my boyfriend disappeared. Thought maybe Caster had tried to steal you away again.” She teased as she smiled up at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Heh, no, just getting in some extra practice.” Jaune assured her as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “You head on back first. I’ll be right behind you.” Jaune promised as he looked down at her eyes low. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Ruby gently insisted as she held his gaze. “It’s okay Jaune, I miss her too. But she wouldn’t want to see you tear yourself up like this. Come back to bed? Please?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will,” He assured her, eyes still low and trying to avoid meeting hers. “Like I said it’ll be just a moment. I’ll be right behind you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” Ruby hedged, “I love you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you too,” Jaune responded, a more genuine smile covering his face as he said it. And with that Ruby went back to their bedrolls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--When The Search Ends--</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Arturia sighed internally as she watched Shirou head back to bed. The enhanced training regiment had been paying dividends. She wasn’t where she needed to be but she was much better off than before, her mastery over this new version of mana burst had grown and though it was no Excalibur or even Caliburn, Crocea Mors had become a fine weapon with the addition of wind dust to allow her to use Hammer of the Wind King and the additional material had allowed her to get it the proper weight and shape. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Arturia felt her mood sour as she thought of how exactly she had acquired the materials. A memory of soft lips on her own but not belonging to her lover. A whisper of apology and gratitude. The tight dark confines of a locker with rockets attached to it and the pain of the sudden crash. The phone call to Pyrrha’s partner to warn her of Pyrrha’s mistake. The flash of light that could be seen from Vale. An apology from Ruby’s uncle as he carried back an unconscious Ruby, a burned Weiss, and the remains of Pyrrha’s equipment not counting the spares in her room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was why Arturia trained. That was why Arturia took Jaune Arc’s ancestral blade, noble in its own right but unable to keep up with what came next, and changed it. That was why Arturia took the fore. Jaune Arc was weak and couldn’t be trusted. He was a fine young man, good enough to be her squire, but woefully ill prepared for what was to come. He wasted time on frivolity that could have been spent on training. Maybe then he would have been kept by his teammate to fight together. Maybe then he could have saved a life. Maybe then he could have prevented a second Camlann. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So now it was time for Jaune Arc to go away for a little while. Maybe someday the little boy could have his time in the sun, but now the King of Knights needed to do her work. Work that would need to continue tomorrow, she sighed to herself. Shirou had grown concerned. It wouldn’t be right for her to make him worry or lose sleep, so Arturia sheathed her blade and slowly walked back to camp.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Arturia had lost more than any person living or dead. Friends, lovers, children, home, kingdom, country, and her life. She refused to lose anything else to the monster that clawed at the gates. No more teammates, no more friends, no more family, and it would be a cold day in every single hell before she let anyone hurt Ru- SHIROU… Shirou. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was the promise Arturia made to herself as she lay down next to her lover staring into that angelic visage. This was the promise Arturia would KEEP, after all an Arc never goes back on their word.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <b>AUTHOR’S NOTES:</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Hey everyone! Here’s the new chapter, sorry it wasn’t terribly long but while this scene felt key when I was picking them all out it also didn’t have a lot going on. I managed to stretch a minute and a half or two minutes out to two thousand words? I think that’s decent enough lol. Don’t worry though the last three chapters should all be significantly longer and I just realized we’re at the halfway point of the story lolol. I hope you’ve all been enjoying it and I am genuinely honored that all of you like this small little story so much. In lighter news I’ve finished the rewrite for Huntsman of the Digital Hazard and posted chapter 7 the first arc of the story should finish next week and then we’ll be moving into an original arc from yours truly so if any of y’all wanna sample some of my other stuff now is definitely the time. Also don’t worry Huntsman of the Hazard doesn’t actually require and digimon knowledge to enjoy.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>That should be it, thank you all for coming on this fun little ride with me and I hope you all have a wonderful day. Don’t forget to love each other.</b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>I OWN NOTHING! Enjoy the chapter!!</b>
  
</p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>
  <span>Arturia grit her teeth as she clashed blades with the witch Cinder Fall. They had been led into this trap by the nose and Arturia should’ve known better! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lionheart’s weak will was obvious to Arturia the moment she had met him a month before. Anyone looking at him should have been able to see it, but Qrow and Ozpin had vouched for the cowardly lion faunus, insisting on his strength of character. That dirty coward and oathbreaker gave lions a bad name!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The moment of anger at the betrayer was quickly shelved though as Arturia parried a blow from a flaming scimitar. As she caught the burning obsidian sword against the new heavy crossguard of Crocea Mors she quickly twisted the blade down letting Cinder’s own followthrough on the blow throw the witch off balance before knocking her back by placing an aura burst powered kick straight into Cinder’s stomach. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wind swirled and surged around Arturia as she manipulated the wind dust to blow forward and buffet the crimson form of the Fall Maiden and she had the gall to laugh at him! After everything she had done! With that sick smile on her face! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Arturia roared as she brought Crocea Mors above her head before pulling it down in a mighty slash. “HAMMER OF THE WIND KING!” She cried with everything she had as she poured aura into the wind dust of his sword and a horizontal tornado spiraled out of the blade and into the witch, ragdolling her and throwing her across the room to slam against the opposite wall.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re gonna pay for what you did at Beacon, wench.” Arturia growled as he stalked towards Cinder who still had that same STUPID SMIRK ON HER DAMN FACE.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No… No. Arturia had to maintain her cool. The rage would grant strength but it also made you sloppy. She was not a fighter like her son Mordred. A king must stay cool and collected at all times to lead his people. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Speaking of such, Arturia spared a glance toward the rest of the battlefield as she moved to engage Cinder once more. Ruby was still picking herself up from the cheap shot Cinder had taken at the start of the battle… bitch. Ren battled Ruby’s sister’s mother’s minion and the two seemed evenly matched at the moment. Ren could not match the bandit girl’s brute strength but made up for it in skill and technique.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dear Weiss had taken the battle to Mercury and after a comment about her not being so pretty anymore, had started stabbing the silver haired boy as many times as she could manage, with as many different elemental effects as she could manage. Really he had earned that beating if Arturia was honest with herself. Weiss was acquitting herself quite well with her new shield as well,  the training Arturia had given her in Pyrrha’s style was paying off. Attacks from Mercury either washing over the polished bronze or bouncing back at him from a defensively layered glyph.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nora was the last of them, locked in a heated battle with Cinder’s toadie Emerald. Arturia wasn’t sure what daydreams or nightmares the thief showed the berserker but apparently it wasn’t working. Nora simply worked to close the distance and attacked with wide arcs of her sparking hammer, pink electricity trailing off the head. For every three that Emerald evaded one would hit with a punishing force that Arturia could clearly hear across the heated battlefield of Haven’s main hall. Good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Turning back to her main focus, Arturia kicked off the floor with aura burst and in the span of a second the twenty foot gap was closed as Cinder brought up her blade, almost lazily, as the two met in a clash that left a sound like a dozen deep bells ringing and a blast of air that nearly blew the nearby Oscar and Lionheart off their feet. Arturia grit her teeth and pressed against the witch’s blade with all her weight and Cinder had the audacity to yawn as she simply adjusted her grip in no great rush. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Whatever other esoteric powers that maidenhood may have granted, it was becoming increasingly clear to Arturia that whether it be from the Grimm pieces she had mutilated her body with or the mantle of the maiden or both Cinder Fall had achieved the constitution of a Servant. Aura burst could allow Arturia to match the maiden but as the name implied it was only in short bursts. She needed something more but she had no Noble Phantasms, no magic core, and lacked the constitution of a servant in this worthless body.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The frustration on Arturia’s face must’ve been plain as day to Fall as she saw the witch’s grin widen before throwing Arturia back with a small exertion of effort. She was thrown backwards and landed hard, the back of her armor sliding and scraping across the floor. Picking herself up Arturia once again poured her aura into the dust on the sword determined to once again send the maiden flying. “HAMMER OF THE WIND-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And with that Arturia found she could no longer manipulate the air, as there was no air to manipulate. Cinder Fall may have preferred fire but she apparently wasn’t against using the other classical elements as Arturia suddenly found herself gasping in a vacuum as Cinder calmly strolled forward with that same stupid smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her lips moved, but no sound reached Arturia in the vacuum. She gasped, but there was nothing to fill her lungs. Her lungs and heart felt fit to burst. Her eyes watered and some small part of her wondered if her ears were bleeding from burst ear drums. Still Arturia refused to let this defeat her, she picked herself up and moved to leave the bubble before being thrown back by the wall of swirling wind at its edge.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Again she pushed forward, and this time slashed at the edge of the bubble with Crocea Mors while pouring aura into the wind dust. Hoping against hope to wrest control of the winds from Cinder Fall. But it didn’t work. Spots grew in Arturia’s vision as she desperately tried to hold on. Then there was light.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Silver light filled Arturia’s vision and all at once sound and breath and her own voice returned to her as Cinder’s magic was cut off by a silver eyed burst of energy. Gasping Arturia took in great, greedy gulps of air as her version cleared. A quick glance in the direction of her lover revealed Ruby moving to assist Arturia with the witch. But that wouldn’t be necessary. Arturia pulled herself to her feet to see the stunned and weakened Cinder before her and this time she would not be denied. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Axe of the Wind King.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The energy of dust coated the blade of Crocea Mors and air gathered. There was no great surging of winds or localized hurricanes this time though. No, instead all was still for this brief period of time. No air moved near the angry king. Then Arturia swung his sword down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The air and energy coating his blade exploded forward in a single concentrated burst, mimicking the edge of his blade. While Crocea Mors bit into the edge of Cinder’s shoulder the Axe of the Wind King surged outwards, carving a great diagonal gash across the witch’s body as she was flung away from Arturia, and when she hit the ground again she did not move.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a grim smile Arturia turned towards Shirou as he came closer. Vengeance was dealt and justice had been served. Now it was time to move their aims much higher. At least that was what Arturia thought until she felt the crackling of flame behind her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Turning Arturia saw Cinder Fall, eyes glowing with the power of the maiden and wide with a madness that Arturia knew was born of rage and desperation. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Shit.’</span>
  </em>
  <span> One moment Cinder was picking herself up and glaring at Arturia and Shirou. The next she was directly in front of Arturia with the hand of her Grimm arm wrapped around Arturia’s middle, the fingers stretching and contorting with a cracking sound, and then Arturia’s entire world was a blur of motion and aura dulled pain. Cinder was lifting Arturia and slamming her into the ground over and over again. She may have said something but if that was the case Arturia couldn’t hear it over the sound of her own body slamming into the hardwood and against his armor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then the grip was loosened and Arturia was flung loose. Doing her best to break the fall, Arturia managed a messy roll before picking herself up to see Shirou engaged in combat with Cinder and doing about as well as Arturia had solo. Gritting her teeth Arturia used aura burst once again. The hardwood floor splintered at the strain and with a mighty push Arturia rocketed towards the monstrous woman already swinging and catching her in the side, though this time the blow glanced off of aura.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a moment the two managed to keep pace with Cinder. Arturia stayed inside Cinders guard using every trick she could possibly think of to keep the beast off balance while Shirou darted in and out with great slashes of Crescent Rose, carving at Fall’s aura. Then Cinder lost her patience apparently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her Grimm arm lashed out against Arturia, slamming him to the floor and slowly dented his armor as she continued to increase the pressure. There from his prone and restrained position on the floor Arturia could only watch in horror at what happened next.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It unfolded in slow motion to Arturia’s eyes. Shirou went in for a slash against the arm in a burst of petals, trying to free Arturia but the monster expected that. In that moment a great burst of flame coalesced into a solid, long bladed sword and swung at Ruby. The blade cut through Crescent Rose like a hot knife through softened butter, destroying the weapon before stabbing into Ruby Rose with a similar effect.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune’s world stopped. The Grimm hand let go of him but that didn’t matter. Cinder Fall stood above him smirking and saying something, completely off guard, but that didn’t matter. Crocea Mors lay behind him easily within reach but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was the beautiful, amazing girl bleeding out on the floor that he couldn’t live without.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>“RUBY!!!!”</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune picked himself up and rushed to the red reaper’s side, desperately applying pressure to the wound but there was so much blood and it wouldn’t stop and it was supposed to be inside and why wouldn’t it stop? Ruby was supposed to be red like roses not the darkening crimson of blood. He felt someone shake him but he couldn’t tell who it was or what they were saying as he fell apart in the middle of Haven academy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune couldn’t lose someone else. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘God, not like this. Not again! NOT RUBY!’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jaune prayed to whichever deity on whichever world that he thought might listen for something, ANYTHING, to save Ruby. What was the point of it all? Trying to become Arturia instead, throwing away Jaune Arc, all the training, and he still couldn’t save the one he cared for.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune racked his brains for some memory, some scrap of knowledge, or forgotten skill that he could use to help her, but Arturia for all her skills was no healer and there was no avalon on hand to cheat with. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune pressed harder onto the wound and tried to push everything of himself into Ruby at the same time. All his love, his hope, his regret, and his deep seated belief in this amazing girl. And then there was resonance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was nothing like the times it had happened before. There was no overlay of features or personalities. There was no sudden rush of memories overwhelming everything. It was gentle, a literal meeting of two souls as Jaune perceived everything about the girl before him. A billion lifetimes lived, shaping and changing the soul but two shined the brightest. A boy with red hair forged by fire and one thousand curses and so glowed like a burning forge himself at his center. A boy who became a man driven by regret and guilt and hope and love. Fast forward an endless expanse of time and there was a girl.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A girl with silver eyes like the cool steel of a blade. A girl who knew the harshness of the world they lived in and still chose to live with joy. Because that’s what it was, Jaune now realized. Ruby was a joyful person and she came by it naturally but more importantly Ruby CHOSE joy. To live her life the way she believed it deserved to be lived. To save the lives of others and her own. To live, laugh, and love with every single atom of her being every second of every day. And if it was an impossible goal, then she would always have something to strive for earnestly wouldn’t she?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The moment was broken when Jaune heard a shuddering gasp come from the wonderful woman before him and opened his eyes to see Ruby and his hands glowing white as Weiss stared in awe. Jaune could feel a small tug at his aura and realized what was happening. His aura was amplifying Ruby’s healing her, empowering her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune felt tears trail their way down his face as he felt the wound in Ruby’s abdomen stitch itself shut as her eyes fluttered open with a groan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“J… Jaune?” Ruby questioned as she looked up at him, eyes dazed. “What happened?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cinder stabbed you, but I’m healing you back up!” Jaune half shouted, desperate tension thick in his voice. “Just stay with me, ok?” the knight begged the red reaper.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ok,” Ruby said, her voice growing stronger and words coming more clearly. “Love you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Heh, you too Rubes.” Jaune said as tears flowed freely. Jaune Arc had actually managed to save someone. Someone Arturia couldn’t.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weiss left to protect the two and buy them time and Jaune just nodded in acknowledgment. He refused to risk anything that would break whatever effect he was giving Ruby. It had to be his semblance, his aura spent to amplify her own. Jaune watched in awe as the light covering Ruby shifted from the glowing white of his own aura to the brilliant crimson red of Ruby’s as it covered her entire body and only grew in intensity before Ruby’s eyes shot back open full of vim and vigor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune could feel the tears streaking down his face and not much else in his numb relief, as a wild grin stretched over his face to match the confident one Ruby threw his way before his world became a fluttering blur of petals as Ruby disappeared from beneath his hands. A body made not of blades but rose petals and thorns.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The battlefield became a rush of flower petals moving at blinding speeds as they formed a great fist that swatted the giant brute Hazel from the building at terminal velocity, his body obviously broken even as he screamed in rage. Flowers formed naturally in the air for brief moments before breaking back apart and spears shaped suspiciously like Gae Bolg formed out of the flower petals instead, stabbing forward at Mercury before breaking apart and reforming into spears, scythes, swords, axes, arrows, and even fists made of rose petals herding the silver haired assassin next to to his partner.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When the two were back to back and standing together the living mass of flower petals that filled the room coalesced into one solid wave before crashing over Emerald and Mercury both. The two were enveloped and bodily lifted by the swirling and formless mass of flower petals and carried straight out the door. When there, Jaune caught a glimpse of a giant hand once again forming before throwing Cinder’s cronies towards the horizon like a baseball.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then it was over. The fighting stopped. Jaune could see the familiar forms of Blake, Yang, and Sun outside, fighting a man with crimson hair and horns before he turned tail and ran while the members of the White Fang lifted their hands in surrender.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then she was in front of him again and God she was beautiful. An angel in crimson and black surrounded by rose petals as the excess aura continued to bleed off and then her arms were around his neck as she hugged him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“JAUNE!” The red reaper cheered as the two spun for a moment before Arturia...no, Jaune collapsed onto his back with his girlfriend perched on top of him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“DID YOU SEE THAT!?” Ruby asked, eyes wide and cheeks flushed from the excitement. “You were all like Axe of the Wind King! And Cinder was all like GRAAAAHHH. And then we were like *kachow* and *hi-yah*! And then I was like *blegh* and you saved me with your semblance! And then I CLEANED HOUSE!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune was too overwhelmed for words as he nodded happily up at his girlfriend as he latched onto one fact and held onto it with everything he had. Ruby was alive. Darling, dear, beautiful, wonderful, joyful, amazing Ruby was still alive and in his arms. Jaune turned his head to see their friends and allies coming to check on the two when a simple sentence from Ruby brought his mind to a sputtering halt as she leaned in, bleeding excitement and manic energy, and whispered a simple sentence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not sleeping tonight.” The girl said with a mischievous lilt in her voice. The boy could only nervously gulp in response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--When The Search Ends--</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby Rose woke to the gentle light of the morning sun as it filtered through the curtains of their room. Ruby was aware she should probably get up and grab breakfast. She was aware she should probably throw some clothes on. She was aware that even with the victory of the night before they needed to plan the next step and prepare for travel. At this point though, Ruby simply didn’t care about anything but the soft bed and warm arms wrapped around her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a sobering thought, but Ruby should have died last night. By all rights Cinder had her and only the borderline miracle of Jaune discovering his semblance when he did had saved her. Not just saved her but empowered her. Ruby had never once felt so much aura before. Was that how Jaune felt all the time? No wonder he never got tired from training. And the thing with her semblance! Could she always do that? Was it only when boosted? She would need to see about shaping the petals when it was just her because that was amazing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still though, Jaune had given her his aura. A piece of his actual soul and vitality to bring her back, and wasn’t that just like him? Ruby gently giggled as she reached up a hand between their two bodies to gently brush the hair out of his face. He was a good man, no matter how much he refused to believe. Gallant and self-sacrificing to a fault, with a simple genuine goodness simultaneously so similar in her mind to Saber while also being so completely different.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby’s smile widened as Jaune stirred at the movement and when his eyes opened she made sure she was already staring into them. Jaune smiled with that wide, sleepy, goofy grin he had every morning they woke up in their bedrolls when he first saw her but this time it was different. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Jaune mumbled cheerfully as she watched him slowly wake up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Ruby smiled back as she wrapped her arms around his middle and held him tighter to her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So last night was……” Jaune trailed off, a neon red blush bursting across his face even as his smile widened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Ruby nodded, and if anyone said she was blushing as well first she’d tell them to get the flip out of the room and then later she would inform them that they were greatly mistaken.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So definitely better than last time huh?” Jaune asked as he awkwardly tried to make small talk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby could only snort in response. “Jaune,” she deadpanned up at him. “Last time was a few planets ago and we were having to do it as a magic ritual to not die to berserker as he hunted us. We were so awkward and bad at it that Tohsaka had to lend a hand. I think you can really only go up from there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby watched as the goofball seemed to be thinking it over in his head before nodding back down at her. “True.” He answered simply and Ruby lightly slapped him in response while laughing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” Jaune laughed in mock protest. He became quiet as he looked down at her as if he was contemplating something before he spoke. “.....You’re brilliant you know that?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jaaaaune,” Ruby blushed as she ducked her head, she wasn’t even going to try to deny it this time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Jaune continued softly, gently. “You don’t get it. When I healed you Ruby I saw everything. Every life back to the beginning when your name was Shirou Emiya and in each and every one you were amazing. But now? Now Ruby you are blinding and beautiful and capable of so much genuine joy and spreading that to others simply because you decided you would. That’s amazing”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby continued to glow crimson at the complements as she felt the heat from her blush spread from her cheeks to the tips of her ears and bottom of her neck. This certainly made bringing up that thing she wanted to talk about easier but did he have to say it like THAT? With the quiet voice and the deep, kind eyes, and the smiles that made her knees weak? The absolute jerk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That goes both ways you know Jaune,” Ruby began as she looked back up at him. “I saw you too and Jaune you may not believe it but you </span>
  <em>
    <span>shine</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Ruby whispered as she held him tight and stared into his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You shine brilliantly and you give of yourself to everyone around you but sometimes when the brightest light comes from you, all you can see is how dark the shadows in front of you are.” Ruby continued even as Jaune began to look uncomfortable and averted his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Babe, look at me,” Ruby gently asked, in a voice that left no room for argument. “It’s true. You may not see it but you make the lives around you brighter as well and you should never doubt that. It’s why I love you, and why our friends love you. Arturia was amazing in her time but Arturia was also tragic even as she held on Jaune. Everything she built was ultimately destroyed and Shirou never built anything and now it’s down to us to live the lives they couldn’t not just for what we missed out on as them, but simply for </span>
  <em>
    <span>us</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby frowned as Jaune snorted, “I think I’d still rather be Arturia most of the time.” Jaune admitted and Ruby felt her heart break. “I don’t think I like Jaune Arc very much.” The second statement was capped off with an uncharacteristic yelp as Jaune flinched back from where Ruby pinched his hip.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby glared up at her boyfriend (it was definitely </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> a pout). “Don’t talk about my boyfriend like that jerk.” She growled in her best approximation of menacingly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ruby. I’m your boyfriend.” Jaune argued confused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The point stands!” Ruby continued as she pulled him back in tighter to her. “I love </span>
  <em>
    <span>YOU</span>
  </em>
  <span> Jaune, I have ever since we met at the bullhead docks the day before initiation. Not as Shirou loving Saber but as Ruby Rose, a normal girl with normal knees, loving Jaune Arc. A boy who tries his level best and makes people smile and plays video games with me and reads comics with me and when I’m not feeling well buys me chocolate chip cookies and stomach medicine without complaining.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah there’s a word for those stomach aches Ruby,” Jaune began before yelping as she pinched him again. She wasn’t done yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Still not the point Jaune,” Ruby continued. “I’m Shirou Emiya from Fuyuki City yeah, but that’s not just who I am and it’s also not who I am anymore. Now I’m Ruby Rose from Patch, an awesome huntress who makes better chocolate chip cookies than Shirou ever could.” Ruby giggled as she felt him finally begin to relax again as they both laughed at the joke.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And that goes both ways Jaune,” Ruby looked him in the eyes as she said it, trying to make every ounce of meaning clear and understood. “You’re Arturia Pendragon, King of Camelot. But that’s not</span>
  <em>
    <span> just</span>
  </em>
  <span> who you are anymore. You’re also Jaune Arc of Domremy and he’s a darn good man. I won’t let anyone say otherwise. So if you ever find yourself in a spot where you don’t like Jaune Arc again, can you at least remind yourself that both Shirou Emiya and Ruby Rose do? At least until you learn to love yourself again?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby watched Jaune’s head dip into her hair as he sighed above her. “Ruby it’s really not that simple-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But Ruby-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s not fair, you know?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nope!” Ruby chirped one last time with a smug smile on her face. “But it works doesn’t it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll try my best, Arc’s Word.” Jaune promised her as she felt his arms tighten around her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s all I ask my King.” Ruby grinned impishly up at her lover.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“As you wish my dear, dear Cook.” Jaune smiled back down at her in that gentle way that could make Ruby’s heart flutter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two lay like that as long as they could, basking in the love shared, the healing, and honestly just the morning after as neither wanted to get up for the day and face the world. Then the door opened. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey Rubes! Up and at’em for training! I know I’ve been slacking on the big sister front with the trip to Menagerie but with Crescent Rose busted you’re gonna need all the hand to hand skill you can ge-,” Ruby watched with mounting horror as Yang froze, taking in the scene before her of Ruby and Jaune still wrapped around each other in the sheets and still not wearing any clothing. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Oh Root dammit, again really!?’</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ruby cursed internally as Yang prepared to curse out loud. Very loud.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“OH WHAT THE FU-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>AUTHOR’S NOTES</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Hey everybody! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! That’s chapter 4 out of 6 written and honestly being this close to finishing one of my stories honestly has me feeling some kinda way lol. Most everything I plan out or start writing is either REALLY long form or it’s a oneshot so having a short story like this actually being close to finish with multiple chapters feels odd in a good way. I know some of y’all hated the last chapter and some of y’all don’t like the timeskips but when I started this I knew exactly what type of story I wanted to tell and that fact honestly hasn’t changed. For those that are sticking with me anyway I hope y’all are excited as we get to the final battle against Salem next chapter and then on to the epilogue in chapter six as we find out what actually happens when the search ends.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>I hope you all have a great day! And don’t forget to love each other! Take Care!</b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>I OWN NOTHING</b>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Ruby grit her teeth as she sprinted through the field of Grimm. It was chaos, madness, and in a way, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. Team CFVY carved their way through an endless rush of creeps and beowulves, each of the monsters dying almost instantly. Team FNKI held the line as their leader Flynt drew a line in the sand and stood on it four times over, his killer quartet creating a devastating wall of sound.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Team SSSN moved with a precision Ruby had never expected, or seen, from them before as an aura amped Sun directed a hundred and seven clones to destroy every Grimm in their path while the rest of the team formed up around their immobile leader to defend him. Team BRNX fought as a single unit, perfectly in sync, Blake keeping her promise after she returned to never leave her team behind or separate them ever again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weiss fought alongside her sister, both women summoning up glyphs and Grimm to kill more Grimm and in turn summon those Grimm to fight as well, their personal army growing larger and larger with every kill. Penny flew above the battlefield raining fire, ice, and lightning down upon the enemies, destroying them in vast groups. The Ace Ops fought with the practiced ease of seasoned huntsmen. Atlas airships flew overhead destroying as many of the monsters as they possibly could.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The White Fang no longer masked or in the colors of the Grimm fought to a man with the same zeal they put towards fighting for the sake of the faunus because this was a fight for the world itself. There was no going back after this battle simply because if this battle failed there would be nothing left. For this brief, glorious moment in time Remnant stood truly united against a common enemy that wanted nothing more than the extinction of all sentient life. White Fang fought alongside Atlas soldiers fought alongside Valean huntsmen fought alongside Mistrali cartels fought alongside Vacuan nomads for the fate of Remnant. Even team CRDL fought just at the edge of Ruby’s vision as the rowdy boys put their personal flavor of brutality to work fighting the creatures of Grimm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the middle of it all stood the form of her lover Jaune Arc, former King of Knights, holder and relinquisher of Excalibur, guest of Avalon, the Once and Future King, and most importantly to Ruby’s mind some dumb, good-hearted kid from Domremy who just really wanted to help people and do his family proud. In one hand there was a sword of blue crystal and gold filigree yet it hung loosely in his palm, forgotten now in favor of the staff in the other hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune’s semblance poured out from him in a gentle pulse of white and gold light. The Staff of Creation granted him limitless aura for him to gift to all those around him at once. Their small army protected by a shroud of aura that poured into their bodies, revitalizing them, strengthening them, allowing them to be more than ever before for as long as Jaune could maintain it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As for Ruby herself, Ruby was everywhere. Her semblance was enhanced just like that first time at Haven two years ago, but now she had the benefit of experience and hours upon hours of practice. Ruby scattered into a million little rose petals that filled the air and darted to and fro. She couldn’t summon up her reality marble anymore due to the nature of the magic. She was no longer the same person as Shirou Emiya was back then, but still she had the memories and blue prints from Unlimited Bladeworks and so rose petals coalesced and took the shape of cursed spears and drill swords and falchions and arrows and swords upon swords upon swords in a uncountable number of shapes and sizes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>None of them were truly noble phantasms, lacking the strange and esoteric powers of the originals but they were all still VERY sharp and properly weighted and quantity was very much a quality all its own. Bladed weapons rained down on the Grimm in the battlefield before breaking apart and flowing to form new blades and fly at different targets. A nevermore seeking to divebomb Sun Wukong found itself run through by arrows from multiple angles at once. A beringel that managed to break through the lines and was coming up behind Weiss and Winter was pierced from toe to tip by a half dozen rose red stakes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A hundred and seven copies of Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang filled the hands of the hundred and seven copies of Sun Wukong as they tore through the ranks of the grimm smashing in the heads of those who opposed them and firing off blasts of aura hardened rose petals. Ruby herself would form her body out of rose petals and dip into the fray as well. In one hand she held her weapon Waxing Petal and fired directly into the gaping maw of an angry sobek. From the other hand Ruby threw Waning Thorn into an ursa, the blade of the scythe stabbing deep into the flesh of the monster and with a flick of a switch gravity dust activated, seeking to pull the two weapons back together</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The ursa stumbled in Ruby’s direction but it definitely had the weight advantage and Ruby wasn’t interested in fighting physics. The Huntress let the pull of her weapon carry her as she jumped up and forward, feet pointing towards the ursa as momentum carried her past the beast. Ruby hooked Waxing Petal’s brilliant white and red scythe blade around the monster’s throat as she passed and grabbing hold of both handles Ruby planted her feet against the ursa’s back and PULLED.  Waning Thorn tearing out and dealing massive amounts of damage made pointless by Waxing Petal cutting off the Grimm’s head entirely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly a blast of flame tore through the ranks of the Grimm in front of Ruby and carved a path leading forwards through the horde of Grimm. Using the sudden reprieve to spare a glance up Ruby spared a glance up and spied one, two, three, four maidens working in concert to lay waste to the forces of the Grimm that surrounded their forces. Taking in the now glowing form of Arslan Altan in flight Ruby realised the plan had actually worked. Cinder was definitely good and the power of the maiden was to be feared and respected for a reason but she still wasn’t, ‘defeat the three other maidens by herself all at once’ good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby and company moved as a unit taking the fight straight through the Grimm as for the first time in memory all four maidens simultaneously unleashed their full powers in unison to kill as many Grimm as possible, clearing the way for the final battle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--When The Search Ends--</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune could taste blood in his mouth as he pulled himself forward, step by agonizing step. Every single nerve ending was on fire as he was overloaded by more raw energy than any human was meant to handle and still he took it in, processed it, and sent it back out to heal and empower the others around him. He kept pace with the march of their party as he coated the area around them in light. In a way it almost reminded him of his old sheath Avalon. Lesser in a way maybe but now he could gift the power and healing to others, a power to protect and strengthen his troops. Not the power of a champion but of a leader.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The power that had led them to this point and allowed them to not just hold the line but press on as well. Jaune was keeping pace with the group in spite of the pain, he held on and did his best to stay in the middle because at the end what was pain in the face of a battle of this magnitude? A battle for their very right to exist, to live.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So Jaune focused on his task and he continued on. Through fire and blood and one thousand evils surrounding them, he maintained his death grip on the Staff of Creation and poured out energy in a brilliant corona of white and gold light. Somehow in the middle of everything despite all the pain he felt a gentle, featherlight touch on his hand, warm and soft and comforting while simultaneously hard and calloused and rough. The hand he dearly loved to hold. The hand of one Ruby Rose pulling Jaune to a stop.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Looking up Jaune saw before them a castle and gliding towards them was the enemy. The black hearted witch Salem unfortunately corrupted into her current form by the very Grimm pools she now manipulated. This was it, a fight for the sake of humanity, surrounded by all the evils of the world given shape, and facing a broken woman corrupted to her core.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gently, Ruby tugged at the staff in his hand but before Jaune let it go he let loose one grand pulse, stronger than the rest, to fill those around him with as much aura as they could physically handle. The rest of the teams sprang into action each taking their part in this desperate gamble of a plan. Salem was powerful, too powerful. Stronger than any one of them and stronger than all of them together so something needed to be done. The silver eyes, a gift and weapon of light and creation to burn away the destruction, would be powered by the staff of creation and Jaune’s semblance to be more than they ever were before. The sword of destruction, still held in Jaune’s grip, a crystallization of power that on the surface level of appearance looked nothing at all like Excalibur yet there was no mistaking the way it felt in his hand. The way it thrummed against his very essence and hummed with a conceptual power, not of victory made manifest, but true, overwhelming destruction.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It would take a moment for Ruby and Jaune to ready their respective attacks though and that was where the squad came in. Their teams. Their family almost. The most courageous group of people Jaune had ever been granted the privilege to know, any one of them would’ve been a welcome addition to the Round Table.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Team BRNX dashed to the fore as Jaune began pouring his own overcharged aura directly into the relic. Every blow from Ren, though gentle in appearance, made a crack like thunder as Grimm after Grimm exploded from the sudden and violent introduction of aura into their systems. Nora and Yang each dashed forward and every strike pulped a black and white monstrosity as the huntresses’ already monstrous strength was enhanced to truly superhuman levels. And most impressive of all was their dear leader Blake. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The faunus danced around the battlefield leaving shadow clone after shadow clone behind her but surprisingly each was solid and carried their own weapons. A fact Blake took great advantage of when after four quick side steps at the front facing into the horde she took a page out of Flynt’s playbook and had four clones make four simultaneous aura slashes carving four lines through the mass of Grimm in front of them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Team Schnee’s own personal horde of sparkling white and blue Grimm had apparently gotten large as they were willing or able to make it and so the sisters each took sword in hand and waded into the battlefield. Winter moved with a deadly efficiency as she dashed across the battlefield, the very image of a model soldier. Every time she struck a Grimm died. Every time she parried, an attack was turned away from her and into another Grimm nearby. No movement was wasted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Weiss on the other hand, dear, darling Weiss, his eighth sister if ever anyone had earned that dubious honor, was wild. To and fro she flitted, bouncing constantly from one glyph to the next leaving trails of dead Grimm in her wake. Yellow glyphs of time dilation giving her the needed time and speed to set up bigger and grander effects of dust casting, because what was the point of conserving ammo now? Either they survived or they didn’t. Gone was the prim and proper heiress from their first year of Beacon who sat unsure of herself but didn’t know how to show it. This was a wild snow fairy or warrior princess and those who killed her partner, who scarred her visage, who had caused so much pain and suffering the world over would know the wrath she had been saving.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even team CRDL did their part, Jaune mused, as they formed up around Ruby and himself. “ALRIGHT BOYS!!!” Cardin shouted above the roar of the battle. “NO MATTER WHAT NO ONE TOUCHES THEM! YOU GET HURT, YOU KEEP FIGHTING! YOU DIE, YOU WALK IT OFF!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It would have brought a tear to the eye, if Jaune had had the time for such things, as he felt the power build within the blade and their target slowly come into range. They were all so very different from who they were even just those four years ago at Beacon but that was the nature of things wasn’t it? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At every point of their lives they became different people. Not in the grand way Arturia and Shirou had as they lived life after life to reach each other, but in the small ways that every creature does to avoid stagnating. The way you decide to change your hair from a style you had for years, the way your tastes change just that little bit to complement a partner, or even just the way you (Cardin) eventually grow out of being a bit of an asshole as the real world shows you that in the end, we’re all just trying our best.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then there was no time left for musing in that detached way. The power was built and aching for release as Jaune felt the very concept of destruction itself start to leak from the sword in black, smoky wisps. Threatening to tear apart his very being as he held on for the opportune moment, and then it arrived. There the witch was, so sure in her immortality and victory that her hubris could let her do no less than show up herself to handle the nuisance. It was that hubris that Jaune and Arturia had counted on. That hubris that Shirou and Ruby knew they could capitalize on as long as they made it obvious that the Grimm wouldn’t stop them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thirty feet, teams FNKI and SSSN dashed out of the way as she lashed out with magic, each beating a quick retreat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Twenty feet, teams Schnee and BRNX swiftly pulled back but not before taking potshots at the Queen of the Grimm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ten feet and it was time. Team CRDL split and pulled back behind Jaune and Ruby no longer needing their protection and more importantly, no longer needing the larger boys to hide them from view. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To Jaune’s left Ruby positively glowed with silver light as it cascaded off of her in waves and poured from her eyes like great wings made of brilliant light and polished metal. Jaune himself could now see his once pristine white armor stained a dark, insidious black as he became cloaked in destruction itself. Catching the recognition in the witch’s eyes and seeing her visage turn to caution and anger, Jaune lifted the Sword of Destruction above his head before letting loose one last battle cry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>“THIS IS A BATTLE TO SAVE THE WORLD!”</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And as those fated words echoed across the battlefield Jaune swung down as Ruby opened her eyes and unleashed their full brilliance. A pitch black curtain and a wave of silver brilliance struck Salem at the same time. The concentrated destruction wearing away at the curse of light and sapping the witch’s life force. Pure creation set to attack burned away the corrupting influence of the Grimm pool across the woman and as the energy poured out Jaune’s field of view was overtaken by shifting waves of pristine silver and pitch black.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the middle of all this though, Jaune experienced something he hadn’t in months. The familiar sense of deja vu washed over him and once again they were no longer Jaune and Ruby of Vale. Once again they were a hopeful boy and a hopeless king. Fighting a seemingly unkillable foe, each with hands on the same sword as they both poured everything they had into this one moment. This one attack to end it all. Somewhere in the midst of it all Jaune’s left hand had slipped from the sword to reach toward Ruby. Ruby’s right hand had apparently had the same idea. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And so spent and being greeted by a completely empty field ahead of them once their vision cleared, Jaune felt his vision go white again as he fell into unconsciousness. He felt he had earned a nap.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <b>AUTHOR’S NOTE:</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>So there we are. I hope this doesn’t disappoint anyone, I tried very hard to come up with a final battle worthy of both Nasu and RWBY and I think I did ok. For those paying attention I did make sure that I referenced seven of the restrictions of Excalibur being lifted for fun flavor over the course of Jaune’s POV. A virtual hug, an internet cookie, and a shout out in the final chapter to everyone who can name the exact restrictions I used lol. </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>We’re almost at the end now everybody, all that’s left is the epilogue in chapter 6. The payoff that I’ve been building towards for the entire fic. I hope you all have enjoyed the ride so far. I know some of my choices have been unpopular but I stand by my decision and the story I wanted to tell. I hope you all choose to join me for the final chapter and I’m amazingly grateful for the love shown to a new writer. </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Have a great day everyone, and don’t forget to love each other.</b>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><b>I own nothing.</b><b> A quick shout out to</b> <b>Ultimate Warrior of Zera, for being able to name which of the restraints of the round table I used last chapter.</b></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune’s breaths came heavy as he splashed water in his face. He felt sick to his stomach and he had no airship to blame it on as an excuse this time. Jaune stared up into the mirror and red and black eyes stared back at him, a reminder of the taint of destruction that had flowed back into him from the Relic of Destruction three years ago. He could do this. HE COULD DO THIS. </span>
  <em>
    <span>HE COULD DO THIS!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gonna puke VB?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune picked up his head to see Yang Xiao Long swagger into the room. A cheerful grin on her face and dressed in a three piece suit with her hair pulled back into a smart ponytail.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hate you, you know that?” Jaune groaned as he downed some water and tried to push his way past the headache. He did NOT need this today. “How are you perfectly fine? I know you had more to drink than me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Years of practice and a robust constitution, my soon to be brother-in-law,” Yang snarked as she smirked at his suffering. Truly the Xiao Long women were a terrifying breed. “Still, we need to get you freshened up before the ceremony, can’t have this *hanging over* the wedding.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh that pun was low, “Drop dead Yang.” Jaune groaned pitifully into the sink as he washed his face once again. “I should’ve never let you plan the bachelor party. I don’t even like drinking!” Jaune protested as he rubbed his hands over his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not sure I’m gonna believe that after last night, soon to be brother in law.” Yang snarked as she walked up and started patting Jaune on the back. He refused to admit it because that would require giving her credit, but it did actually help the nausea a bit. “Be honest though, how much of this is booze and how much of it is nerves?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About seventy percent nerves?” Jaune admitted as he just stared ahead into the mirror. “I’m the most excited I’ve ever been Yang, but what do I do when I screw it up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Screw it up? Screw what up VB? You screw things up all the time.” Jaune felt himself slump in response to the harsh but not unfair descriptor from Yang. “So does Ruby, she’ll screw it up a lot. And you’ll both pick yourselves up and do better, but you could never screw the two of you up. Not when the two of you still look at each other that way.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune picked his head up and turned to Yang, the teasing smile was replaced with warm kindness and a gentle tone. Jaune already knew the answer in his mind but he still needed to hear someone else say it. “Look at each other like what?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The same way you’ve looked at each other since that first night at Beacon eight years ago, Jaune. The way that let me know that while I could give you a hard time about it there was never a point trying to actually fight you two getting together. You and Ruby look at each other literally like you’re the only two people in the world, like you found the one thing you’ve been missing all your life, like you just figured out the answer to everything at once.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yang smiled toothily up at him as she tousled and then gently fixed his hair. “As long as the two of you are willing and able to keep looking at each other that way, I genuinely believe the two of you will be just fine Jaune. That being said if by some freak happenstance you do manage to hurt Ruby or break her heart then I swear by the Brothers that I will shove my arm, Ember Celica attached, so far up your ass that I’ll be able to use you as the world’s most lifelike sock puppet.” Yang finished, looking Jaune directly in the eye, not a trace of humor about her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pff-...... PFFT! Hahahaha, will do sister number nine,” Jaune snarked. He had done his best, he really had but it was impossible to maintain a straight face at the ridiculous threat that was proven a joke when Yang’s attitude lightened at his laughter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s the smile VB,” Yang grinned as Jaune shrugged on the jacket of his tuxedo. “You ready to go?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m as ready as I’ve ever been Yang,” Jaune promised. “Let’s go, I don’t wanna keep the others waiting.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You sure? We could still do the sock puppet thing if you want.” Yang snarked as she held open the door for the both of them. “I could learn ventriloquism and we could tour across Remnant.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune made a brief show of considering it before waving her off with a snicker as the two made their way to the chapel. “Naw, I don’t think my delicate constitution could handle the rigors of that much travel. I think I’ll take my chances with your sister instead.” Jaune and Yang walked the rest of the way to the chapel sniping back and forth good naturedly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The chapel itself was small, a modest affair just like Ruby and Jaune wanted. The people of remnant may have wanted to celebrate the marriage of their two heroes but all the heroes in question wanted was for their closest family and friends to join them for the day. Twelve rows of pews filled the room and everything was covered in roses. Ruby apparently hadn’t particularly cared about color so much as quantity by the end and red, white, and yellow roses completely filled the room. It was a tiny bit haphazard and a little bit poorly thought out and over the top and by that nature it was so very much like Ruby and Shirou both and Jaune loved it dearly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Waiting for Jaune and Yang at the far end of the room near the pulpit stood Nora and Ren. Both dressed smartly in their own tuxedos waiting for him in the still mostly empty room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey guys,” Jaune waved as he moved to join them. “Sorry for the bit of a wait. Kinda still feeling last night.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re fina Jaune-Jaune,” Nora reassured Jaune as she reached up to pat him on the shoulder. “We’re still early so far anyway.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks Nora,” Jaune said as he gave a quick hug to the smaller girl. “Thanks again for being my…… I was gonna say groomsmen but Ren is the only dude. Groomspeople? Yeah that works, groomspeople today. I really appreciate it.” Jaune finished as he pulled Ren into the hug as well.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No worries, we might still be team BRNX but we’ll alway be team RWNJR too.” Nora said as she reached up to pat his arm. “We’re still your friends Jaune and we always will be. I’m more surprised you got Yang to wear a suit than anything else.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh! That was actually part of a deal between me and Blake,” the blonde brawler explained. “If I wear the suit today I get to wear the pretty white dress when she and I get married!” Yang cheered with a triumphant grin. Jaune just smiled in response at his soon to be sister’s good mood. It was infectious really, even with his worries and his nerves earlier this was still an amazing day. A day he had been waiting for ever since she had met Shirou in that tiny little shack under moonlight so many eons ago.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The four gathered up and took their positions near the pulpit as guests started to trickle in. All their friends, their family really, filled the pews with no worries about whether it was the groom or bride’s side as they all mingled and hugged and said how happy they were to see each other. Jaune spied Tai and Qrow walking in alongside his own family, the two chatting with his own parents and his sisters before Tai moved to the back of the room and the crowd took their seats. As the music started playing Jaune realized it was time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The Book of Love is long and boring</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No one can lift the damn thing</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s full of charts and facts and figures</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And instructions for dancing</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. A simple white dress with a single red rose on her left shoulder and her hair done up in a bun Ruby was beauty itself given form. But that would’ve been true with her hair in a mess and her dressed in a burlap sack. Ruby was and would always be the most beautiful creature in the world in Jaune’s eyes, and as she walked up the aisle to him with a smile that could outshine the sun, Jaune couldn’t help the way his eyes filled with happy tears or the way his mouth pulled open in a painfully wide smile as their eyes met and he saw the same look on her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But I</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I love it when you read to me</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And yoouuuuuu</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You could read me anything</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jaune’s eyes were locked on the face of his true love as he looked back and saw a billion different faces past her back to the beginning but this face, right here, right now, would always be the most important to him as she was the one that finally found him and he refused to ever let her go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you, Jaune Dylan Arc, take Ruby Rose to be your lawfully wedded wife to have and to hold for as long as you both shall live?” Asked the youthful but wise voice of their friend Oscar Pine. No longer at risk of being subsumed by Ozma as his curse was broken with the death of Salem but still in possession of all the man’s memories and magic.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I do,” Jaune swore in a vow he would never be at risk of breaking. “Til death and beyond, forever and ever.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And do you, Ruby Rose, take Jaune Dylan Arc to be your lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold for as long as you both shall live?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I do!” Ruby smiled as she cheered, Jaune could see the tears of joy welling up in his love’s eyes. “Forever and ever.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The Book of Love has music in it</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>In fact that’s where music comes from</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Some of it’s just transcendental</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Some of it’s just really dumb</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The reception was in full swing as Jaune and Ruby made their way onto the dance floor. Jaune smiled as he held Ruby's tiny waist and the two gently spun around the ballroom. He braced himself for that familiar feeling of deja vu, for the memories to overwhelm him, but it never came. As he looked down into silver eyes that crinkled in the corners from a smile Jaune felt a surge of something unidentifiable, almost a mix of giddiness and melancholy, as he realized what that meant.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"We... we never did this did we? We never danced... did we?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That's what tonight is for my king." Shirou- no not anymore, that wasn't right. Ruby smiled up at him. The wonderful, amazing, adorable Ruby Rose who loved cookies and strawberry milk and leveraging her cuteness against him to win arguments.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Choked with emotion Jaune smiled back down at the love of all his lives. "That's right," he whispered, "and tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and the day after that. Forever and ever my dear cook."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But I</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I love it when you sing to me</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And yooouuuuuu</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You could sing me anything</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby laughed at the look on Flynt’s face as Weiss got down on one knee to propose. She had warned him that if he took too much longer Weiss would take matters into her own hands. The two of them had been a delight that surprised Ruby when they reached Atlas and Flynt had said, “It’s good to see you again Snow Angel.” When Weiss had brought up her scars Flynt’s only response was, “You’re still Weiss Schnee aren’t you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The Book of Love is long and boring</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And written very long ago</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s full of flowers and heart shaped boxes</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And things we’re all too young to know</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby smiled joyfully with tears in her eyes as she stood next to her sister in a bridesmaid’s dress, hands clasped over a slight baby bump. Yang was radiant and her smile wide enough to encompass the entire room as she stared her soon to be wife in the eyes and yes indeed, Yang was the one wearing the pretty white dress while Blake was dressed smartly in a tuxedo smiling back at Yang.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But I</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I love it when you give me things</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And yooouuuuuu</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You ought to give me wedding rings</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby smiled gently at the exhausted but pleased look on Nora Ren’s face. In her arms she cradled a new, small life with black hair that had a shock of his mother’s orange running through it. Ren stood nearby hovering fretfully over the two even as Jaune laid hands on both pouring his aura into them, strengthening both mother and son. The birth had been touch and go for a while but seeing the family before her now, her family, Ruby understood why Nora had pushed for it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And I</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I love it when you give me things</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And yooouuuuuuu</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You ought to give me wedding rings</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey Rubes,” Ruby heard the voice of her husband ring out from the kitchen as the song finished playing. “Damask just called, he said he would be on his way here with the kiddos in about an hour for solstice dinner. I’m gonna be in here working on it if you need me for anything!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks babe!” Ruby shouted back and smiled as she closed the photo album before putting it back up on the shelf. Wizened hands still strong, dextrous, and holding the calluses of a weapon. It had been a good life, a long life, and it would be much longer yet if she had anything to do with it. She had grandchildren to embarrass and spoil in equal measure.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ruby had been blessed and was grateful for every moment of every second of every day that she had been able to live this life. Her own herd of children, of a size that would make even Mama Arc proud, a life training the next generation of huntsmen in an era of unprecedented peace, and the king she loved more than anything by her side every step of the way, possessing no country, no castle, and no crown but still noble in demeanor. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She made her way to the kitchen as the scroll speakers began playing the next song and the house filled with the sound of high pitched voices as Eden and her family walked through the front door. Ruby wasn’t sure what waited for her and Jaune beyond this. Oblivion? More reincarnations? A seat on Remnant’s equivalent to the throne? It didn’t really matter in the end. Ruby knew that no matter which route it took she would be by Jaune’s side throughout it all, forever and ever. Just as importantly, to Ruby at least, she was now comfortable with the answer to the question that had plagued her ever since that fateful night when an awkward boy held a crying girl as they walked back to the dorms from their first date. What happens when the search ends?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Life. Life with all its amazing twists and turns and peaks and valleys was what she found at the end of her long search.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>AUTHOR’S NOTE</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>And they lived happily ever after.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>I hope all of you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. It’s been a blast all the way through and even if it’s not perfect I’m still genuinely proud of this final product. Some people might get mad that it’s not longer or that I didn’t do this or that thing or that there wasn’t more action but ultimately that wasn’t the point of this story. The point was and has always been what happens when two people, one tasked with searching tirelessly forever and the other patiently waiting forever finally find each other. This is the story of the important moments in the lives of these two people and what happens when the search ends.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Now I’d like to give a quick shoutout to both PatricianLurker and TooMuchTime88 who have helped me a lot with this story in terms of betareading and Lurker in particular being the watchdog on my Fate lore and keeping to the spirit of both series lol. I like Fate but that man is a BEAST (possibly Beast 8 lolol). They’ve both been great and a lot of help and I genuinely feel this story wouldn’t be as good as it is without them, be sure to give their fics a look.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>So that’s about it. I hope you all enjoyed and look forward to my other works. My next story is going to be a White Knight romance in a no fall AU with some rock and roll mixed in lolol. Keep an eye out for it. The title will be Between Shots and Songs.</b>
</p>
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